The exceedingly inconsistent bonehead comedy "Old School" is spun
from the assumption that men of all ages would like nothing more than
to join a typically rowdy college fraternity, get drunk and party
with hot babes all the time. Even if male camaraderie, intoxication
and sexual adventuring are attractive ideas, it's absurd and
illogical that any institute of higher learning would legitimize a
phony frat house like the one started by the three 30s-ish
non-students in "Old School": Luke Wilson's lovelorn lawyer, Vince
Vaughn's happily-married appliance-store potentate and Will Ferrell's
newlywed loser. Absurd things can be funny, but real laughs are in
short supply here. "Old School" profits from an easy-going
performance by Vaughn that would do Dean Martin proud, and from the
fearless, anything-for-a-laugh attitude of ex-"Saturday Night Live"
stalwart Ferrell. Wilson, who scored in the box-office success
"Legally Blonde," is used more as a reactor than an actor, seeming
like a nonentity for the first time in his career. A personable
supporting cast, including Ellen Pompeo, Juliette Lewis, Leah Remini
and Jeremy Piven, deserved a better script.